VELLOW 



favorite haunts, Mr. Baldwin* says: ''Its preference is for 

 maples, beeches, and particularly butternuts, and for sloping or 

 hilly ground, and I always look with glad suspicion at a knoll 

 covered with ferns, cohoshes, and trilliums, expecting to see a 

 clump of this plant among them. Its sentinel-like habit of 

 choosing ' sightly places ' leads it to venture well up on moun- 

 tain sides." 



The long, wavy, brownish petals give the flower an alert, 

 startled look when surprised in its lonely hiding-places. 



C. pannflonwi, the small yellow lady's slipper, differs from 

 C. piibescefis in the superior richness of its color as well as in its 

 size. It has also the charm of fragrance. 



YELLOW SWEET CLOVER. YELLOW MELILOT. 



Melilotiis officinalis. Pulse Family. 



Two to four feet high. Stem. — Upright. Leaves. — Divided into three 

 toothed leaflets. Flowers. — Papilionaceous; yellow; growing in spike-like 

 racemes. 



This plant is found blossoming along the roadsides in sum- 

 mer. It was formerly called in England " king's-clover," be- 

 cause as Parkinson writes, '' the yellowe flowers doe crown the 

 top of the stalks." The leaves become fragrant in drying. 



INDIAN CUCUMBER-ROOT. 



Medeola Virginiana. Lily Family. 



Root. — Tuberous ; shaped somewhat like a cucumber, with a suggestion 

 of its flavor. Stem. — Slender ; from one to three feet high ; at first clothed 

 with wool. ^. eaves.— \xv two whorls on the flowering plants; the lower of 

 five to nine oblong, pointed leaves set close to the stem ; the upper usually 

 of three or four much smaller ones. Flowers. — Greenish-yellow; small; 

 clustered; recurved; set close to the upper leaves. Perianth. — Of three 

 sepals and three petals, oblong and alike. Stamens. — Six ; reddish-brown. 

 Pistil. — With three stigmas ; long ; recurved, and reddish-brown. Fruit. 

 — A purple berry. 



One is more apt to pause in September to note the brilliant 

 foliage and purple berries of this little plant than to gather the 



* Orchids of New England. 

 140 



